A cooperation agreement was signed between the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) and the Halal Accreditation Agency (HAK) in order to strengthen our country's halal quality infrastructure, to raise awareness on this issue in the business world and to enable our country to take a larger share of the world market for halal certified products and services.

MÜSİAD, which continues its work with the ideal of developing our country and making it effective in its region and respected on a global scale, continues to cooperate with Türkiye's leading institutions.

Most recently in this context, MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan, HAK Chairman Zafer Soylu, Chairman of the MÜSİAD Food Safety and Innovation in Competition Planning Committee İsa Albayrak, Chairman of the MÜSİAD Digital Transformation Committee Fahrettin Oylum, Chairman of the MÜSİAD New Tourism Resources and Investments Committee Muhammet Ali Özeken and Chairman of the MÜSİAD Economic Security and Regulation Committee Osman Çalışkan took part in the ceremony for the agreement signed between MÜSİAD and the Halal Accreditation Agency (HAK) in order to strengthen our country's halal quality infrastructure, to raise awareness on this issue in the business world and to enable our country to take a larger share of the world market for halal certified products and services.

Under the agreement, the aim is to exchange information between the institutions in the fields of halal food infrastructure and halal certified trade, to organize joint training programmes, seminars and workshops so that the subject of halal food gains prestige in the eyes of society, and to raise awareness at home and abroad on matters such as halal certification and halal certified trade.

The Halal Accreditation Agency stands out as the only institution providing halal accreditation services in Türkiye, having been established to operate in the field of halal accreditation at home and abroad, to represent our country in halal accreditation work on international platforms and to take the lead in the work carried out.

“Sensitivity About Halal Production and Consumption Has Declined in the Islamic World”

Sharing his assessments after the agreement, MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan pointed out the importance of halal production and consumption. Emphasizing that as MÜSİAD they approach the issue of halal consumption with sensitivity, Kaan said: “Unfortunately, in the Islamic world we have lost our sensitivity about halal consumption. When it comes to halal production and consumption, the level of awareness among Muslims is regrettably quite low. As MÜSİAD, we continue our work with the principle of member-country-ummah in order to raise awareness on this issue. In recent months we also signed a cooperation agreement on this subject with the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC). Today, with the agreement we have signed with the Halal Accreditation Agency, we plan to move on to a further stage. Through organizations such as seminars, conferences and training programmes that we will hold jointly with HAK, we aim to raise awareness about halal accreditation. With the work we will carry out through our domestic and international branches, we will also continue our activities regarding the accreditation of our members operating there.”

“The Pandemic Has Made Us Comprehend the Understanding of Living Within the Halal Sphere”

Also sharing his assessments about the Coronavirus outbreak, which was first seen in China and took the whole world under its influence in a short time, Kaan said: “There are unfortunately serious claims that the outbreak that emerged in China was transmitted from wild animals. At this point, as Türkiye we are unfortunately a country that feels both the economic and the sociological effects of the outbreak in a serious way. In this situation, we comprehend more closely the importance of the understanding of eating, drinking, cleanliness and living within the halal sphere as commanded by Islam. In this context, the agreement we have made with the Halal Accreditation Agency gains importance once again.”

The Agreement We Have Made With MÜSİAD Will Be a Step at the Global Level

HAK Chairman of the Board of Directors Zafer Soylu, for his part, emphasized the need for auditing in the halal sector. Soylu said: “In today's world, creating standards is as important as producing the product itself. The precondition for creating standards is to be a country that is advanced in the field of quality infrastructure. Through the customs union it has established with the European Union, our country is an economy that is open to the world and has an advanced quality infrastructure. It is precisely for this reason that Türkiye has become the first country in the Muslim world able to carry out accreditation in accordance with the standards of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation/SMIIC. In this respect, we attach importance to the cooperation protocol in question concluded with MÜSİAD, and we believe it is an important step towards the goal of establishing a reliable auditing/accreditation mechanism in the field of halal certification at the global level.”